I've got a pretty nice hardtail (decent forks front) 27.5", need to get out it more- it's been over a year
6 miles on snowy trails w/ Tiny E- about half nicely packed, the other half slushy
If you haven't yet tried it, modern road bikes might get your attention. They are the Ultralight of cycling. It's pretty cool to be powering something that is about as efficient as is possible. I'm not geeked enough to have the numbers at hand but good modern carbon fiber road bikes like my SL4 Roubaix Expert are LIGHT. Also, extremely refined, high quality machines. To quantify that a bit, when climbing I appreciate how they've engineered the frame to be really rigid in the ways that transmit power to the pavement; it feels like power in = power out, though obviously that's not the case. On downhills, the frame again is rigid where it must be and supple in other areas and the bike just carves 35 mph turns like it's on a rail.
